Day 11 - Los Angeles

As far as I can see I left you all hanging somewhere on Hollywood Boulevard... Lets continue from there! We spent a whole day in Los Angeles, Saturday January 8th. One might say that is not enough for such a big city, but having been there before and knowing that it is indeed not one of my favorites, I could guide Helene around to the most important places. Plus she had discovered a great way of spending our evening - more to come about that.

So we woke up to have breakfast the usual way in our Hollywood hostel, and left the car there to take the metro downtown. Funny how everybody is like "Nooo, you don't wanna use public transportation, it doesn't work, you need a car to get around", when really the system is functioning really well. It takes like 15 mins to get downtown from Hollywood with the red metro line, and costs 1.50 $. Now who would say that isn't convenient?!? We started off walking to Olvera Street, an old little alley with loads of stalls selling Mexican-style souvenirs. It also has Los Angeles's oldest house for free visiting, so of course we went there. We like free stuff... :)

After having browsed through all the little shops, looking at amazingly colorful little thingies we headed towards the more cultural side of town. Unfortunately since it was Saturday we couldn't get into the city hall to see the view of the city, so we continued down the road to the large new cathedral. Nothing like what Helene had imagined, it is an impressive building, modern style with some unique decorations on the walls. Back outside, just as we were talking about having to see the Hollywood sign before we left, it appeared on a far away hill side. Though not up close, we decided that that would good enough!

Next stop was the Disney Concert Hall, which I had only seen from the outside on my first trip to LA. This time we took an audio tour inside, but it wasn't really that interesting, as we didn't get to the the concert hall itself. An then Helene discovered that she had lost one of her new earrings from Olvera Street, so she spent some time looking for it, with no luck. So we went to get lunch at the Grand Central Market, taking the short Angels Flight trolly/rail road down the hillside. Very cute.

In the market we quickly identified that Mexican (!) would be a good options for lunch, and ended up with a burrito and a tortas, respectively. Liking American Mexican food so much, I can only imagine that my Mexico travel is gonna be a success - if they don't make it too spicy down there. ;) After lunch I went home, I was having a light cold, so was rather tired. Helene went back to do some more shopping, and met me at the hostel when I had taken a nap a while later.

Our evening excursion was to the Getty's Center, on a hilltop in the outskirts at the city! Our research had revealed that it was free to park there on Saturday nights (compared to 15$ on regular days), and the admission is always free. Another free experience! And it was really great. Started out with a tram-ride uphill, to the center itself above the parking area. The huge area holds several buildings with different kinds of arts and other artifacts, so all in all paintings, sculptures, ancient books, icons, furniture, etc. etc. Also their garden is really nice, but what was most breathtaking was the night view we got of Los Angeles. Though close to the highway and their noise, we still got the feeling of being far above the city - a really nice escape. We went home around 9, after having spend several hours at the center. Made us think about how amazing it is that people who are as rich as Getty cares enough about their society to open a museum with free entrance for the public. Really cool! :)